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Good Riddance Joe Paterno!

Had the victim been Paterno's own son, does anyone believe that Paterno would not have reported the rapes to the police or even gone after Sandusky with a rifle?

[Black Star News Editorial]

Coach and University Concealed rapes of Black Boys

Penn State University tonight finally fired its long-time football coach Joe Paterno. The university's president, Graham Spanier, following an emergency meeting of the Board of Trustees, also was fired.

The actions come nearly 10 years late.

In 2002 a graduate assistant had reportedly witnessed Penn State former defensive coach Jerry Sandusky, raping a young boy.

The student reportedly alerted coach Joe Paterno to the rape. The coach reported the matter to his bosses at the school, including the athletic director and the president. These officials did not report the rape to the police.

Obviously, there were many more sex attacks by Sandusky as the authorities have now revealed. He is reported to have raped more than 12 young boys through the years, some as young as seven and eight year old.

Sandusky even had set up a foundation, Second Mile, ostensibly to help poor boys from broken families. It's reported that he may have used the "foundation" to procure his young victims.

Judging by the reactions tonight on Penn State's campus, with thousands of Penn State students rallying to Paterno's defense and denouncing his dismissal, we now know the reason why Penn State had covered up the sex attacks for years.

Penn State administrators, and the racuous students voicing support for Paterno, cared more about the reputation of its football program than the welfare of the victims allegedly raped by Sandusky. These students --the ones shown tonight on campus denouncing Paterno's ouster-- obviously have a very warped and perverted sense of priorities.

Coach Paterno never reported the rape he was informed about in 2002 to the police; something he could have easily done. Had the victim been Paterno's own son, does anyone not believe that Paterno would have reported the rape to the police, or even gone after Sandusky with a rifle?

Instead the university, with President Granier's approval, "punished" Sandusky by barring him from bringing any young boys to the university facilities. Yet he was allowed to retain an office at the university as "professor emeritus."

Penn State has exposed itself to millions of dollars in liability. The university cared more about its multi-million dollar football program, the millions of dollars the program brought to the university in revenue, and the Television exposure. Apparently, all these benefits were being subsidized by the abuse of young Black boys by the alleged sex-predator coach Sandusky.

Paterno sat on this information all these 10 years until Sandusky was charged last week. How many more boys did Sandusky rape in the interim? Rather than treating Paterno as some sort of hero, the students should treat him with the revulsion he deserves.

The Penn State students who were out shouting on campus tonight should try --and we know this is difficult for people from privileged background-- and put themselves in the shoes of those young Black boys. They are human beings and victims. They must be afforded the dignity, respect, compassion, and certainly the compensation that they deserve.

How do these things happen?

Right here in New York City, a multi-millionaire well-connected alleged pedophile, Lou d'Almeida, the founder of the Gauchos basketball program in the Bronx, has escaped scrutiny from media and law enforcement for decades. He too set up a foundation, Team Work, which has allowed him to come in regular contact with poor Black and Latino boys.

Hopefully, the Bronx County District Attorney, Robert T. Johnson will take some lessons from what's unfolding at Penn State and start looking into the similar serious allegations against d'Almeida.

The similarities between the Penn State case and the Gauchos are breathtaking.

Bronx County District Attorney, Johnson, can be reached at (718) 590-2000.